Masks: A New Generation Recruitment

Looking to start a fairly vanilla game of Masks: A New Generation. Mostly looking for character ideas, as we'll flesh the city and things out once we get our players.

A bit about me: I've run Masks PbP games since Masks was in beta, so 2016. I've run three PbP games since then that have reached at least two years of gameplay. The last one I concluded last year went on for 4 years and died because of RL commitments changing. That's the general energy I bring.

If you've never played Masks, that's fine, I'm very beginner friendly. As for the rest of the nit and grit.

1. What I'm looking for in a submission? As said, just give me a regular Masks submission. If you're set on the character once I pick, we can work out any changes if and where needed. I'm looking for entries that aren't just the regular Marvel or DC clones. I've run Masks for a long time, I've seen enough Bulls who are tough and punchy, enough Doomed's who are sad and broody. I'll be more inclined to take you if you do something interesting with the Playbook.

2. How many players are you looking for?: Five. No more, no less.

3. Will there be an OOC Thread? No, I use Discord for OOC. It helps a lot.

4. How long do you plan to run this? My last Masks game took 3 years. I am looking for that level of commitment.

5. Are there any banned Playbooks and if so, why? Yes. The Nomad is banned because it's really tough to do in PbP games. That is also why Doomed is banned. Both the time travel Playbooks from the core Playbooks are likewise banned because I think they're both not particularly well designed and I don't really care for Time Travel and I don't think I could give you the story you deserve with that bias. Those would be The Innocent and The Harbinger. The Newborn is also banned because I think it's the worst designed Playbook from the core set and I will not be able to deliver the story you deserve because of that view.

6. Are there Playbooks you're less likely to take unless the submission is really good? Yes. The Outsider, The Star, and The Scion.

7. Can you use Third Party Playbooks? Yes. You may use any of the Playbooks from The W.A.R Book, The Worst Generation, or The Liminal.

If you have any more questions, I'll be happy to answer them.

I love Masks.

Just keeping things very general here yet as I don't want to flesh out characters in this stage too much yet as other people might have feeling about the same playbooks I'd like.

There are many interesting playbooks. Maybe one of the 3th party books, but I don't know those at all.

The one idea on my mind the The Brain, with the forcefield generator.
I don't plan to go nerdy there. But she's rather the quite successful kid who has it all and a very good brain on top of that.

A core part of the Brain is the Shame.

I am thinking she programmed an AI that went rogue on the internet and started it's own religion. Now, people are actually worshipping this I as some divinity or guru of a sult. The AI teaches people The Greater Good, but enforces it to it's followers (and others!) as a dictator. It suggests to cull the weak, surrender belongings to charity, it makes "perfect love matches" of people, and judges if people are worthy of the amount of wealth they have.

I am considering bringing a Soldier to the mix. I am picturing a frail kid growing up with increasingly bad migraines that sometimes leads to seizures. Every doctor shakes their head as they can't figure out the cause and then, AEGIS shows up. They recognize the symptoms of enhanced senses overwhelming a brain not ready for it and they offer to help. Being a military family, his parents are all too willing to accept that help. He learns to control his superhuman senses and they discover that not only can he perceive far more of the electromagnetic spectrum than visible light but he can control them.

After the training program comes the sales pitch and between the gratitude for putting him right and the obvious pride of his parents at the thought of him following in their footsteps, how could he not accept?

So here he is: proudly representing what AEGIS can do for the good people, proudly representing his family and their military tradition, and now being asked to proudly represent the young heroes of today. That is quite a lot for a quiet boy who never thought he'd have a future and is now being asked to help shape it.

Big time Masks fan here, I consider it one of the best PbtA games to come out. So, of course, I'd like to plant a flag of interest.

Quick question - while I'm perfectly fine sticking it out for the longhaul, I was wondering what kind of posting rate you were hoping to keep going. A lot of the games here at the Gamers Plane shoot for daily, and my weekends are sadly booked.

As for character ideas ... well, I'll need a little time to tinker. I love the Beacon, but I tend to play it very straight and you were saying you were looking for some stuff off the beaten path. I've wanted to play with the Joined for a while, but it's tough to make the connection during a recruiting process. I'll probably either submit a Protege or a Reformed ... maybe finally look through my copy of Worst Generation to see if anything jumps out at me.

I'm excited to see a game of Masks open up again! I'm a big fan but due to PbP attrition I've never been able to see a game through to the end. It's awesome to find an ad that shoots for the long haul, and I definitely have the endurance to keep a long-form game going on my end. I'm not sure on an idea yet, but I tend to go for the odd and uncommon so I think this campaign will be a good mix.

I think I figured out how to thread the needle on my inspirations, but I'll throw one more question into the mix: do you want people to submit character pitches here or in PM?

Here, if you'd please.

One post every two weeks is my minimum.

I've been eyeing this as I've been desperate for a Masks game as both I have joined sadly died quickly from DMs disappearing. I am fairly full on games at the moment, however I spy you are still without a fifth and with the slow posting rate I can hopefully manage. ( Though if someone else ends up showing interested absolutely take them)

Concept wise - A delinquent trickster who after her superhero parents got killed by there archnemesis instead of vowing revenge and the usual decided she didn't want anything to do with that, and instead set out on her own, and has been using her powers to get by moving from city to city, tricking and gambling her way into free food, board etc.

The other is the Bull. I hear you on not wanting stereotypical smash, so I may need to rework the original concept I had from a different game, but the character became able to change into the form of a hulking 'nature guardian', after her father decided to test a odd relic their crew stole on her and not himself. Can definitely go for a more team big sister feel, and not wanting to use the powers as they are hard to control, rather than the usual 'rush in and punch' of a bull.

Still working on the character sheet - I'd be done but I have an unexpected court appearance today. I've definitely settled on an Inheritor with Impossible Fighting Skills to start. Hopefully I'll get everything wrapped up when I get home from work tonight.

I'll get this plugged into a proper character sheet later, since there's a template for Masks in the Custom Sheets thread.

She-Devil Inheritor of the Righteous Devil Tradition
Name: Mara Cross
Look: Woman, White, Laughing Eyes, Comfortable Clothing, Inspiring Costume, Simple Symbol

Abilities
Your Heroic Tradition is well-known and well-established before its decline, but decline it did. Choose one of the following reasons for their fall from grace:
[X] They became the villains they often fought against.
Your Heroic Tradition was well known to have a host of iconic powers but that was then and this is now. You begin play with one of the following abilities:
Impossible Fighting Skills.

Labels
Danger: +1
Freak: +0
Savior: +2
Superior: +0
Mundane: +0

Inheritor Moves
[X] When the Man Comes Around: Whenever you take a hit on a Powerful Blow, you may instead spend a Team from the Pool to re-roll. You must take the new results, even if they are worse. Mark a Condition no matter the results.
[X] Let the Good Times Roll: When you Directly Engage an opponent alongside a teammate, you may mark a Condition to provide them an additional option, even on a miss. If they are a member of a Heroic Tradition, you may also add 1 Team to the Pool.
[X] Tom's Diner: Whenever you clear a Condition by taking its associated action with a teammate, you may spend one team to clear an additional Condition, add a Team to the Pool, or give them a Potential.

Return to Glory
Your Heroic Tradition has a long road to travel to once more stand in the city's good favor. What are the methods for this Atonement? Pick two
[X] Saving innocents at the cost of yourself or the team
[X] Showing mercy to others who have lost their way.
Whenever you help further the return of your Heroic Tradition through Atonement, roll +Savior. On a miss you fall short or embarrass yourself, mark a Condition and take -1 forward the next time you attempt to Provoke someone you do not have Influence over. On a hit, mark an Inheritance and see yoru work through. On a 10+, take +1 forward or shift your Savior up and another label down.
Inheritance" [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
When you Inheritance fills, clear it and take one of the following Boons. When you've marked all the Boons above the line, you must choose one beneath the line.

Backstory
What lead you to begin working on reviving your Heroic Tradition?
It was during the media frenzy after Devil's Fork burned down. A secret commune up in the mountain where a vigilante was hiding supervillains from the proper authorities? The news agencies saw a juicy source of views and late night specials, roping prominent heroes who were a part of the raid in, getting accounts from the people who'd been there, dragging Righteous Devil's name through the mud. I remember being <i>so</i> mad; the man saved my father's life, heck saved <i>my</i> life twice, <i>not</i> including the times he pitched in and kept the whole city from burning down. <i>This</i> was what they were going to turn his legacy into? No, I couldn't allow it. It took time, but I had a scrap of trivia that I could build from ... I knew the name of the man who'd taught the old Devil how to fight.

What are you giving up to pursue your Heroic Tradition?
What've I given up? Well, I guess I never really thought about it in those terms, too busy moving forward. Still, I did leave home. I send letters home sometimes, but I've barely seen my parents since I started down this path. I was wandering around rootless, sleeping in bus stops, shelters, and crashing on the occasional couch while I chased after rumors. I basically dropped out of school, used to want to be a therapist. I don't know, maybe I could earn a GED, get back towards that at some point. All told, I guess I've given up two years of my life chasing after ghosts and learning to deal with the PTSD that comes along with Sifu's training.

What did your Heroic Tradition stand for?
There was something Righteous Devil used to say a lot. "If you want to save lost souls, you need to be ready to descend into hell." His obvious martyr complex aside, he was a hero who never stopped thinking of people, even his worst villains, as people. If he ever thought of someone as beyond saving, I'm not aware of it. It's probably contributed to why so many of his old rogue's gallery are just ... not active anymore. A disillusionment with the way the justice system deals with offenders, and the hero community's implicit support of that privatized prison system is what drove a wedge between him and most of the established hero groups. When he started breaking people out of those prisons, no one hesitated to slap him with the villain label.

Who or what opposes you in reviving your Heroic Tradition?
There are a lot of people who don't want to see a new Devil on the streets. A lot of active Silver Agers, and those who are riding their coat tails, see my tradition as damaging to the public image of heroes as a whole. The one who it's most personal for, though, is Case Cracker. A Bronze Ager who came up around the same time as Righteous Devil, they worked on a lot of cases together, and were prominent as city-level heroes for a while there. Case Cracker eventually was accepted into a larger league of heroes, and started operating on a more national scale. When Righteous Devil crossed that invisible line, Case Cracker took it personally. He was the one who found Devil's Fork, though he's maintained he never expected things to spiral as out of hand as they did. So, add some guilt in with those feelings of betrayal and responsibility for his friend, I guess.

Why do you care about the team?
Listen, I'm not dumb. I always knew there was going to be some push-back when I decided to do this. There are people who are going to want to label me as a dangerous rogue right from the word go, just based on the horns on my mask. Working with others shows that I'm a team player, blunts that immediate impression, and that gives me the room I need to do the good work. There's also a benefit in just the gathering of power, part of why Devil's Fork went down the way it did was that Righteous Devil just made too many enemies. Going your own way only works so long as you remain insignificant, which a hero can't afford to be.

Doesn't seem like this is really getting much interest, which is a shame. I think I'll have to hang this one up folks.

That would be a shame. Still, I count 5 people who'd be interested in playing. Enough to fill a party. Ah well...

Since you asked for 'Five players, no more no less' I'd bet that potential players probably stopped posting interest once there were five people solidly expressing interest. That was kind of why I didn't post up interest...

Masks is a pretty popular setting & system. It usually gets a good turn out for interest checks.

Cool. Whelp, thanks for pointing out W.A.R. and Liminal for me.

Disappointing. Thanks for the offer.

Same, though I was also afraid you wouldn’t like my Outsider or Scion idea, since you named both those playbooks as ones you were very likely to reject. I mean, in any recruitment, you know the GM can’t pick everyone. But knowing my characters were less likely to get picked than others’, it didn’t make sense for me to make a pitch.

I think you’ll run into a lot of problems here, too. If a game goes to 1 post per week, I usually dip out, as it means it’s deader than dead. Like Celestine said, most people aim for daily, or at least five posts a week. 1 post every two weeks is going to be hard, I reckon.

Just something to keep in mind if you are keen to run something here soon! Definitely want to try Masks someday, but with a little faster pace, I think.

That is a shame. Thanks for at least letting us know. I will put the ideas back in the masks box and hold out hope for another (Though I may be cursed with mask's games at this point :P)

Respectfully, I disagree with this sentiment. If a game has a slow pace all players know and agree to from the beginning, then it's hardly an indication that it's going to fail - investment in the game doesn't just depend on its speed. Not everyone likes fast paces, and I would love to see more slower games. (Which is primarily why I'm popping up here, to note that there is interest in slow games too.)

To not make this completely off-topic, I eyed this recruitment with curiosity, but Discord requirement unfortunately doesn't work for me. Still, good luck with the future games and all! :D

Just chiming in on pace -- these days I prefer quicker-paced games, but I played slow ones for years to good success. I'll admit the fail rate on those is higher, but some of the highest quality posts, and therefore games, were those slower, more thoughtful games.

Depends on people, many folks like me lose interest quickly if there is only a GM post per week or longer. Can't even remember what my character was doing. :)

Discord is not for everybody either, a lot of drama and huge drain of time. I tried for the first time since last year and was not a good exprience for me.

Been there, Nebula! My Discord experience was a harsh reminder of why I changed schools after eighth grade.


That said, I don’t think the OP’s takeaway should be ‘don’t require Discord.’ I think it’s good to be up-front about everything—which the OP was—but it’s also good to know you won’t get players to conform. Rather, you’ll get the players who are already compatible with what you’re offering.

And it seemed to me that it worked perfectly—exactly five players responded to a call for exactly five players!

For sure, I just didn't see much traction on actual submissions
This may be my ignorance but I didn't know this forum operated on first come, first serve. If that was enough to scare people off, I'm glad to have been told that and will amend any future game postings. I'm more used to a vetting process.
This especially makes me wonder if this forum is typically first come, first serve. But it's not particularly fair to blame me for you not posting a pitch. I feel I was really honest and forthright where I was coming from. If you felt the game wasn't for you with the submissions you wanted to make, it's not really fair to blame me. I'd have looked them over regardless, and you were more than free to submit any other character idea you had.
One post minimum doesn't mean that's what I expect.
1. That was the absolute minimum I was looking for. That's a really odd thing to hold against someone. I'd obviously have preferred more than that. I'm glad I didn't actually write my actual preferred two posts a month speed though I guess.

2. The Discord was just for OOC. It would have been on a private server, no real drama involved.


I think however that this place is probably not the best fit for what I'm looking for overall. Appreciate the feedback however, and I wish you all the best.

I'm sure you can find the kind of players you like, there's a lot of different mind here. :)

Well for my part, I think I misunderstood your instructions. I was waiting for some indication from you that the general concept I pitched was acceptable before submitting a full character write-up especially since you seemed to be looking for something specific.

Sorry if that came off as blame—not my intent. As I said in a later post, "I think it’s good to be up-front about everything."

I believe being up-front attracts the players who want what you’re offering, and simultaneously, you weed out the players who want something different. There’s nothing wrong with that.


Regarding the bold text, I simply didn’t want to create a different character. I wasn’t sure why the Outsider was "less likely" to be picked. I am curious, though, if you don’t mind my asking:

What it is you don’t like about the Outsider?
Is it something thematic or mechanical?

Examples:
• Thematic, as in you don’t like GM’ing alien civilizations or you feel players come up with implausibly utopian societies.
• Mechanical, as in every Outsider-player starts with the same three moves (you know which three) or you hate size-shifting crafts because the player can roll Superior for everything in combat, even indoors!

It's a bit of column A and a bit of column B. I admit, that I generally find alien and sci-fi stuff to not be my cup of tea. I might not have added it on this one but generally I'm up front that I lean more urban fantasy, with a heavy side of that fantasy. More planes, magic, that sort of deal. If people make Outsiders along those lines, I'm generally ok with taking it but throwing in aliens obviously can conflict with that.

The mechanics for sure are a big part of it though. I don't think the Outsider is particularly well put together. I actually don't recall the last time I had one with Kirby Craft but it is, honestly, a mess. The Moves themselves, as you point out, are all pretty easy to pick as well. There's just not a lot of variance in Outsider's as a kit, unlike the other core playbooks and especially not that ones I've written and published. Which that last bit may be biased but I went out of my way to write with the Outsider as a list of what not to dos.